


Worry Not, All Things Are Well

by niltia



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 00:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17818364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niltia/pseuds/niltia
Summary: Post-episode fluff for s02e05, Saints of Imperfection.





	Worry Not, All Things Are Well

**Author's Note:**

> This is just fluffy recovery fic. I’m sure Hugh’s actual recovery arc will be much more serious, but I needed a little break from angst.
> 
> Title from Apartment Story by The National.

It was kind of strange, now, to see Dr. Culber and Commander Stamets around the ship. Well, not as strange as seeing Dr. Culber _alive_ , of course, but it was still a change from how things were before he died. 

Before, their relationship hadn’t been obvious from their interactions. Keyla had asked Tilly, once she figured it out, because she didn’t want to accidentally spread information they were trying to keep to themselves. Tilly said it wasn’t a _secret_ , they just didn’t advertise it. Then she said something about “You know Stamets, he’s a little uptight about personal stuff, and Dr. Culber is just so professional all the time, you know? I think they just want the focus to be on their careers.” Keyla _didn’t_ know Stamets, at least back then, but she did know Dr. Culber a little bit since he was her assigned primary care physician, and that part at least seemed legit. He had textbook perfect bedside manner. 

That was how Keyla had figured it out back then, actually. She’d been in sickbay for her annual physical and Stamets had come in with some minor injury and told Dr. Pollard he’d wait. When Dr. Culber had finished her physical, he’d gone to tend to Stamets, and as Keyla was leaving she overheard their conversation. Culber hadn’t been _unprofessional_ by any means, but he had talked to Stamets less like a patient and more like a beloved friend or family member who wasn’t taking proper care of themselves. She’d never been _scolded_ by Dr. Culber, she honestly had thought it wasn’t in his patient interaction repertoire. 

After that she’d paid attention, and little things she’d missed before seemed obvious. Plus, one time in the hallway, she had seen them get into an elevator together and as the doors closed, she’d seen Culber reach out his hand and Stamets take hold of it. That was when she had decided to ask Tilly. 

But everything before was subtle. Their interactions now were anything but. 

It was a regular occurrence over the last week to see Dr. Culber slowly and methodically making his way with a mobility assistance device around the ring of the ship designated for exercise runs, Commander Stamets hovering at his shoulder, a hand out as though he might fall at any moment. Pretty much everybody knew at least a little bit of what had happened, at this point, since it’s hard to explain away the appearance of a dead man, so she was aware that he’d come back to them in basically a brand new body. This seemed to come packaged with a lot of the usual problems people saw after a long convalescence, including difficulty with daily tasks. Dr. Culber seemed to be handling it… not well, but hey. He’d been pretty dead. Keyla (and everyone else, she felt certain) was gonna give him a pass for that.

Keyla gave them a wide berth as she passed on her lap, both because she wanted to give them space and also because she didn’t want Stamets to try to physically fight her if she accidentally bumped Culber. She would hate to have to publicly trash him, and in front of his recently-resurrected partner, no less. 

“Paul, you’re hovering too close. I’ve got to do this on my own,” she heard Culber say as she approached. 

Stamets instantly backed off a step, but he seemed physically incapable of maintaining the distance for long. By the time she actually overtook them, he had inched most of the way back toward his original distance from Culber, and by the time she got around to them on her next lap, it was as though Culber hadn’t said anything at all. Keyla shook her head. “You’ve got the patience of a saint, Dr. Culber,” Keyla said, slowing down to walk alongside them for a moment. “I broke a hip on a speedbike as a teenager and I almost took my mom’s head off for hovering the way your partner is.”

Culber laughed softly but didn’t say anything, which was pretty standard for him now. Pike had sent the world’s most awkward ship-wide memo advising that people should try to treat him normally, though, and Keyla wasn’t one to be accused of not following the Captain’s orders. 

Stamets tried to scowl at her, but his frown had trouble overtaking the permanently surprised and pleased look he had on his face every time she saw him out in public with Culber. “Mind your business, Lieutenant,” he said, but it seemed like it was more out of reflex than any actual reproach.

“Right on, sir,” Keyla said, and continued on her run. 

-

Tilly set her tray down at the same table Commander Stamets and Dr. Culber were sitting at and then instantly regretted doing so. She had come at the _wrong time_.

“I’m not going to eat this fucking burrito, Paul.”

Oh god. Would it be weird to get up and leave now? This seemed personal. But if she left it would be very obvious that she thought it was _too_ personal and then she might make them self-conscious. She faked like she had forgotten to get something, left her tray at the table, and walked back over to the replicators, which she stared at blankly until someone cleared their throat behind her. “Uh, computer, steamed broccoli?” she requested. It was the first non-dessert item that popped into her head. 

She walked back to the table and set the bowl down on her tray with slightly more force than necessary, hoping to disrupt the stare-down that Stamets and Culber were having. No luck. 

“So, hey guys, uh, sirs, sorry, Commander and Doctor Culber, nope, that sounds like you’re married, anyway, —”

“Hello, Ensign Tilly,” Dr. Culber said.

“How’s it going?” Tilly asked, and then winced. 

“Fine,” Culber said magnanimously. “Do you like breakfast burritos?”

“Yes?” Tilly answered uncertainly. She wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

“Would you like this one?” he asked, and then picked up the plate and moved it to her tray without waiting for a response.

“Um,” Tilly said. “I’m not sure…”

“Hugh,” Stamets started, but he cut himself off at a look from Dr. Culber. It was still kind of weird to hear them call each other by their first names. It was even weirder, though, to hear Culber swear, and he looked like he was about to again. Tilly hadn’t known he _could_ swear. 

“I’m aware of what Dr. Pollard recommended, just as I was aware the last several times you reminded me.”

“How about half?” Stamets asked. Dr. Culber did not look like he was going to be able to be cajoled into whatever it was Dr. Pollard had recommended.

“No,” he said. 

“A third?”

“I’m going to take that burrito and—”

Tilly hastily picked up the burrito in question and shoved the end of it in her mouth. “Mm,” she said, chewing dramatically. 

Dr. Culber looked at her gratefully, like she had saved him from doing something he would regret. Stamets looked at her like he was going to make her do something _she_ would regret. Possibly she shouldn’t be interfering in whatever was going on here, but it wasn’t like she could un-eat the burrito. 

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s wrong with breakfast burritos?” Tilly asked. “I think they’re pretty great.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve done a lot of chewing,” Culber said sardonically. “It hasn’t been my favorite thing to re-learn. Swallowing was hard enough.”

Stamets reached out to him, his hand hovering over Culber’s on the table, and then seemed to think better of it. He set his hand down right next to Culber’s instead, just shy of making actual contact. 

Tilly looked down at the green smoothie with extra green she had ordered alongside her meal. Michael had told her to stop eating those instead of solid food, but she had kind of developed a taste for them. 

“Do you want this?” she asked. “Since I ate your food. No chewing required!”

“Uh, sure,” Culber said, looking at it dubiously. Then he seemed to make a snap decision, probably trying to preempt Stamets choosing the obvious solution of ordering some other kind of solid food for him. He plucked it off her tray and took an exaggerated sip, then grimaced. “Delicious,” he said. 

“Your ability to politely dissemble is also something you’re going to have to relearn, apparently,” Stamets said, and then looked a little shocked at himself.

Weirdly, this was what got an actual smile out of Culber. “I’ve missed you,” he said.

Stamets flushed (and oh boy, Tilly sure hoped it didn’t look like that when she got embarrassed, since she was almost as pale as he was) and looked down at their not-quite-touching hands. Then he recovered himself, gave her a glare that she didn’t take to heart, and snatched the unwanted bowl of broccoli off her tray. “I’m taking this since you clearly didn’t actually mean to order it to begin with,” he said. 

Tilly made eye contact with Culber as Stamets stabbed aggressively at a broccoli floret. She smiled at him, hoping she hadn’t stepped too much in their private business. He gave her a little nod. 

-

Gen Rhys considered himself to be pretty observant, and he felt like this was borne out by the fact that he was good enough at his job to be the lead tactical officer on a Federation starship. And yet it wasn’t until Ash Tyler walked onto the bridge while Commander Stamets was speaking and everyone else paused and stared between them in horror that he clued in. _Tyler murdered Dr. Culber_ , Gen thought, still distraught over it even though he knew Tyler hadn’t been in his right mind, and then, _Why is everyone looking that way at Commander — oh?_

Later, after everything was over and Dr. Culber was back from the dead suddenly, which, _wow_ , Gen asked about it. He and the rest of his shift’s bridge staff were having a very very belated dinner in the mess hall and everyone was exhausted, so he knew that they were all a bit loopy, but still, he was a little offended by Keyla’s hysterical laughter.

“I had no idea they were together,” Gen said.

Joann gave him a very speaking look. It said, very gently, _You are a bit stupid._

“I can understand not knowing back when Culber was still alive. They were pretty low-key about it. But like. Did you never wonder why Stamets was so _fucking depressed_ the last several months?” Keyla asked. “The guy was, like, oozing ‘just leave me here to die’ vibes all over the place. He was _not well,_ man.”

“I thought it was just from the spore drive stuff,” Gen said. “He got pretty weird for a while there. I didn’t want to ask about it because it’s _classified_ ,” he said. 

“I think Tilly explicitly mentioned on several occasions that she was concerned about his depression after Dr. Culber’s death,” Joann said, ever so helpful. 

“Fine!” Gen said, throwing up his hands. “I’m unobservant, I guess! At least I figured it out eventually.”

“Yeah, at literally the last possible moment before it became apparent to _everyone_ ,” Keyla said, and then started laughing again. 

He was just glad that Airiam and Bryce had already finished dinner and left to go to bed. That was two fewer people to witness his embarrassment, he supposed.

Keyla had picked up her PADD and was typing frantically at it, still laughing.

“What are you doing?” Gen asked, suspicious.

“Messaging Airiam and Bryce, obviously,” Keyla said. Joann laughed. 

Gen made a grab for her PADD but she pulled it out of the way and got out of her chair to keep messaging them from out of his reach. “Keyla! Why are you the way that you are?”

“Hey, it’s been a good day,” Joann said. “We’re all alive. Plus one, even! Don’t let your ineptitude get you down.”

Gen crossed his arms and slumped down into his chair. _You’re all rude,_ he thought, _but I’d still rather be here than anywhere else, I guess._


End file.
